


Warmth (By our Campfire)

by protect_him



Series: Fenders Drabbles [13]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Sharing a coat, cuddling by the campfire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29126886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/protect_him/pseuds/protect_him
Summary: Anders and Fenris go out to get herbs for Anders's clinic, stopping to make a campfire and camp for the night.
Relationships: Anders/Fenris (Dragon Age)
Series: Fenders Drabbles [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202162
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33





	Warmth (By our Campfire)

**Author's Note:**

> That post about Anders and Fenris sharing Anders's coat, and then this happened.

“Bloody cold it is,” Anders grumbled, kneeling to start the fire beneath the neat little campfire he’d set up. “Why do the herbs never grow close to Kirkwall? We gotta trek all the way up the mountain to find any, and then it’s too bloody dark out, and all those bandits.”

“Perhaps we could have done it in one day if there hadn’t been those bandits,” Fenris offered. He squatted over his small pack and pulled out some cold meats wrapped tightly in wax paper, as well as a second wrapped bundle. He stood up, shifting from one foot to the other while the fire started.

“Aren’t your feet cold?” Anders asked, glancing to the side where Fenris’s feet were right next to him.

Fenris growled, his toes curling as he shuffled, trying to keep still. “It’s always cold here,” he grumbled. “The fire is still too small.”

“I can make fire, but I can’t make it just magically big,” Anders said, fanning the little yellow flames. “It’s gotta catch onto the logs and that takes a little bit,” he said.

“Aren’t you a big, scary mage?” Fenris asked. The word brushed an old wound from when Fenris used to use that word like a dagger on Anders, but it was toothless now, and Fenris’s voice held no malice. 

“Mmhmm,” Anders hummed. “I’m a big, scary mage. Sure, I could make a big fire, but it wouldn’t stay big long enough to warm up your supper. It’ll just singe your eyebrows.”

Fenris squatted next to Anders to stare at the flames, as if staring would make them bigger.

“See if you can glare the fire bigger,” Anders said, “I’m gonna take a piss and see if I can’t find something for us to sit on.”

Fenris raised an eyebrow at him as Anders shimmied towards the treeline. It wasn’t quite dark yet, but the mage quickly disappeared into the brush. Fenris looked to the other side of the fire, where there was a nice patch of sandy dirt and a stone that he could lean against. That would work nicely, he thought. He didn’t like to sit in the dirt, but if he put down his sleeping mat there, it would do nicely.

Anders came back to find Fenris settling down on his sleeping mat with his back against the rock.

“I didn’t find anything,” Anders said, grumbling and crouching next to the fire to toss on a few more small sticks he’d found. “Can I share your rock?”

Fenris leaned back against it, trying to pout. The rock was  _ cold _ . He grimaced and leaned forward again towards the fire. It was getting bigger now.

“If you sit next to me,” Fenris said, “you won’t be able to lean against the rock.”

“Oh, fine,” Anders dropped into the dirt on his side of the fire. “You did say you brought enough food for both of us.”

“That is what I said I would do when we left, yes,” Fenris said. “Can I put it in the fire yet?”

“Shit, I gotta find something to stick the meat on,” Anders said. “I’ll be right back.” He grunted and pushed himself to his feet. “The fire’s not big enough yet, anyway,” he called back, and started poking around the brushes at the edge of the treeline.

Fenris’s hand was cold from holding the meat, but he hugged the other bundle tighter. A fresh loaf of bread he hadn’t told Anders about. He hoped Anders would be surprised and would like it. It had raisins in it, which was apparently something that people liked.

“Here we are,” Anders said. “A fire stick!”

“Couldn’t we have used your staff?” Fenris asked. The stick looked something like Anders’s staff, just a bit smaller.

“Appalling,” was all Anders could say. “They’re nothing alike.”

“You use your staff for fire too,” Fenris argued, grinning.

“Oh, you cheeky—”

Fenris just chuckled.

“Alright, for that you’re going to have to share your rock with me,” Anders said. He tromped over to where Fenris sat and dropped himself onto the rock, one leg on either side of Fenris’s shoulders.

Fenris huffed, leaning forward. It was warmer closer to the fire anyway.

“Can we warm up the steaks yet?” He asked.

“Just about.” Anders started poking his stick into the fire, blackening the tip. He took it out a few times to whittle at it until the tip was a sharp blackened point.

“What purpose is that?” Fenris asked.

“We’ll put the meat on it, of course,” Anders said.

Fenris was hungry enough not to question it. He unwrapped the meat and handed it to Anders, who carefully skewered it on the stick. They were thick enough that there wasn’t really any danger of them breaking apart or falling off. Anders leaned in to hold the stick in the fire. He’d found a nice little spot on the side where the flames didn’t lick the food, but some freshly-developing hot coals glowed beneath it.

It was almost fully dark now. The air smelled like burning wood and had the sharp smell of the trees and grass around them. Crickets sang, and in the distance they could hear the river that careened on its way to perform a brilliant leap down a sheer cliff face into the ocean below. It was peaceful. Fenris unwrapped the bread from the cloth it had come in, and placed it on some of the flat stones that Anders had arranged around the campfire.

“Fenris, what’s that?”

“Bread. What does it look like?” Fenris responded, not turning around.

“You didn’t tell me you bought bread too.”

“Do you like it?”

“It looks delicious,” Anders said, and Fenris could hear the eagerness in his voice. He mentally congratulated himself, though he had yet to see if Anders liked the raisins. He had yet to see if  _ he _ liked raisins.

“It should be warm by the time the meat is ready,” he said.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Fenris inching a little closer to the fire.

Anders finally noticed that Fenris was huddling smaller as the night air got colder.

“Fenris, don’t you have a coat?”

“Have you ever seen me with one?” Fenris asked.

“I...guess not. Aren’t you cold?”

“Yes, so I’m sitting by the fire,” Fenris said, reaching to poke at the bread and see how warm it was.

“That’s not...you’re still going to be cold!” Anders said.

“Yes,” Fenris replied. “I am always cold.”

“Aren’t you going to do something about it?”

“Yes,” Fenris replied calmly, turning the bread so the other side was facing the fire. “When we go to sleep, I’m going to wrap myself in my sleeping mat.”

“I meant like now,” Anders said. “This is why some of us wear coats, you know.”

Fenris just hummed noncommittally.

“Oh, Maker’s sake,” Anders said, rolling his eyes. “You are  _ so _ stubborn.”

“Stubborn? What am I being stubborn about?” Fenris demanded, turning to see Anders sliding forward off the rock and seating himself behind Fenris on Fenris’s sleeping mat. “Oi, that’s my spot.”

“You want it?”

“Anders, mind the fire,” Fenris said, turning back just in time to catch hold of the stick before Anders swept their dinner through the ashes. “I don’t understand why you are worked up all of a sudden.”

“Don’t understand?!”

Fenris turned, wide-eyed, to shake his head.

“We were just making food, and now you’re upset over something. What did I do wrong this time?”

“Wrong?”

Anders stopped and stared. Fenris stared right back, challenging him.

“You didn’t do anything  _ wrong _ ,” Anders said, suddenly softening his voice. “You can’t just assume—” Fenris still stared at him, his head twisted around and his eyes glinting somewhat like a cat’s. “Maker, I don’t know what’s got into me,” Anders huffed suddenly.

“Could you maybe explain?” Fenris asked, when Anders still didn’t continue. “You’re acting erratic.”

Anders took a breath and pressed a hand against the front of his coat where he’d been about to try to undo the fastenings with one hand.

“You’re right,” he said, after a moment of thought. “My mind sometimes goes from point A to B and ends up at G, but you don’t see that.” He took another, deeper breath. “I was  _ trying _ to suggest you purchase a coat if you’re cold so often, and it felt like you blew me off, and Maker knows I don’t want to see anyone looking miserable. So then I thought perhaps you were trying to manipulate me into  _ giving _ you mine.” He paused. “Now that I say that part out loud, it sounds a bit ridiculous, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, mage, it does,” Fenris agreed, glancing back at the fire. Anders was minding the meat now, and had turned it to cook on the other side.

“Well, would you let me help you purchase a coat?” Anders asked. “When we get back. To Kirkwall, that is. Tomorrow. Unless you want me to purchase it  _ for _ you. Which, if you don’t have the coin, I think I  _ can _ —”

“I have the coin,” Fenris supplied quickly. “I—”

“Perhaps in the morning,” Anders started in again. “I’ll come meet—”

“Can I speak?” Fenris asked, interrupting.

“Go ahead,” Anders said, both annoyed and impressed that Fenris was exercising his autonomy by speaking up for himself. Fenris paused a moment, as if to be sure Anders wouldn’t just keep talking.

“I do not know…” Fenris seemed suddenly shy. “I was unsure where one would go to purchase such items of clothing,” he said. “Or how much coin I should take with me. I...anytime I speak with the people at the market, they are either too afraid to do business with me, or I feel like they are trying to rob me.”

Anders waited a moment to see if Fenris was finished speaking.

“They probably are,” he said. “The Dalish rarely make purchases outside their own community. The shopkeepers won’t know you aren’t Dalish. So I’ll go with you. We’ll find you a nice coat. Black, to go with the rest of your demeanor.”

Fenris squinted at Anders. “I will decide the color,” he said.

“For now, would you share mine?”

“Share?” Fenris scoffed. “You may be skinny, but I hardly think you can fit both of us in there.”

“Oh, stop being stubborn,” Anders said. “Hold the stick.” He shook it a little and Fenris took it, turning back to the fire to watch the food. It was looking and smelling like it was just about ready to eat. His mouth was already watering.

“Alright, there,” Anders said. He’d unfastened the front of his coat. He took back the stick from Fenris, pulling it out to take a look at the meat.

“What do you mean?” Fenris asked.

“I think the food is ready,” Anders said excitedly. Fenris pulled his pack closer again and took out the small wooden dish to put the meat on, and unwrapped the two knives he had tucked away for eating with. He took the bread as well and turned to cut it in half.

Once the food was prepared on the plate, Anders tossed aside the stick and leaned back against the rock, holding the plate in one hand and patting the space between his legs with the other. “Come sit here,” he said.

Fenris eyed him suspiciously.

“Put your back to me,” Anders said, “and just sit there. You’ll see.”

Rolling his eyes, Fenris sat, gingerly leaning forward away from Anders. Anders lowered one leg so he could balance the plate on it.

“We’ll have to eat before we can really get comfortable,” he said, cutting into his piece of meat.

They devoured it quickly, and then worked to finish the bread. Anders made a good many happy noises as he bit into the bread. Once Fenris was finished with the plate, Anders pushed it away and pulled his knee back up.

“Alright, lean back into me a bit,” he said. “Not all the way yet, I’m still finishing my bread.”

Cautiously, Fenris leaned back a little.

“More than that.” Anders pulled the side of his coat out and leaned forward into Fenris, pulling the coat around his arm. He turned his head the other way to take another bite of his bread.

Fenris stiffened at first, startled at the contact.

“There, that’s a start,” Anders said. He held the coat in place, not letting Fenris wriggle out of it.

“This feels silly,” Fenris said.

“Just wait,” Anders said. “Let me finish my bread—”

Fenris settled in. It was warm where Anders had his coat pulled around him. He finished his own bread and pulled his feet up.

“Alright, I hope you’re ready,” Anders said, and pulled the other side of his coat up and around Fenris’s other arm. “Isn’t that cozy?”

Fenris hummed thoughtfully.

"And now—"

Anders pulled his arms tighter, wrapping his coat around Fenris and pulling him closer. He laughed easily.

Fenris felt the rumble against his back and couldn't help but smile. It was pleasantly warm inside Anders's coat.

"See, there's room for both of us."

Fenris felt how tight the coat was pulled around them, and how close he was. There was only his tunic and Anders's thin shirt between them.

"You are correct," Fenris allowed. "Though I'm not sure it's comfortable for you."

"Don't even think of it," Anders murmured, dipping his head to press his face against Fenris's hair. Fenris's ear tickled, feeling the light stubble on Anders's cheek. This intimacy was new to Fenris, as he felt like their friendship was still quite fresh. He blushed a little, which only encouraged Anders to chuckle and continue to hold Fenris inside the confines of his coat.

"Are you still cold?" Anders asked softly, a few minutes later.

"I feel better," Fenris admitted. "Your coat really is pretty warm.”

“Yes, that’s why I like it,” Anders said, chuckling. “We’ll get you one too. How’s this for now?”

Fenris hummed. “Cozy,” he said. “Did you like the bread?”

“Raisins,” Anders said. “Did you know I like raisin bread?”

“No?”

“I love it,” Anders said. “It reminds me of my childhood. Pre-chantry. The good parts. Good memories.” His laugh rumbled against Fenris’s back.

“I hoped you would like it,” Fenris said. He let his eyes relax as he looked into the fire. Anders held him close, humming fragments of a tune.

The fire started to die down, but neither of the two made any move to revive it.

“We should be lying down soon,” Fenris said, “shouldn’t we? It’s getting late.”

“We don’t have to,” Anders replied. “Or...we could share bedrolls.”

Fenris laughed.

“You always say that.”

“And you usually agree.”

“If we can sleep under your coat,” Fenris said.

“Of course.” Anders brushed the tip of his nose against Fenris’s ear. “Want me to get my bedroll?”

“Let’s wait a little longer,” Fenris murmured.

“Your ears are cold,” Anders said.

“Mmm, I’m fine,” Fenris said. “Just wait.”

Anders hugged his arms a little tighter around Fenris.

“Yes.”

It was warm inside Anders’s coat. Warm and comfortable.


End file.
